fug's blog

12.2.18

A project that strikes a potent chord of dignifying yet spatioculturaly orthogonal nostalgia in bleak times. The jury is out as to the generative benefits of such calculated performances, beyond the market.

14.12.17

There is something systemic about these characters, along with the personal ill qualities that they inevitably enhance.

Promoted to a destructive incompetence by institutional cultures that treat humans as fungible commodities and deify performance indicators, the neolibully is a common sight in public institutionunder arson attack from misapplication of ways of thinking thought to be valued in the profit making sector, and amplified by austerity.

Neolibullysome impact are rife in education, on staff students and collective trajectories. Some tangible, most more than material. They exploit the poor and hopeful who enter the doors.

28.5.17

Mainstream electoral politics is getting interesting in the UK these days, scary at times, with small willy terrorism and big willy counter terrorism ensuring that security politics will play themselves out over the next few week. The dynamism is not just confined to the Muslim kooky sideshows for once, through there are plenty of those, from Salma Yaqoob vs Naz Shah in Bradford West to Ajmal Masroor vs Rushanara Ali in Bethnal Green by Bro and even George Galloway vs Afzal Khan for Manchester Gorton.

Although there are great signs of political maturation and movement, just looking at MEND's rather useful tabulation of Muslim populations per constituency, there are plenty of very Muslim peopled constituencies with really whitewing Labour MPs.

No, the excitement is the growing political horizon of hope articulated by Corbynjaan's manifesto [pdf], encouraging poll (game) evidence and a terrible Conservative campaign which just gets worse the more Theresa May opens her mouth, thinks or has her photograph taken. It is almost as if the establishment had already thrown all of its stash of petrol bombs at Corbyn before the General Election was called.

A Labour government headed by Corbyn would face the risk of anti Corbyn, anti Left and anti Muslim elements stabbing him in the back and the front, sodding all the consequence just for their narrow interest. Prime Minister Corbyn would be a blessing for so many people struggling every day. Imagine, just over two years ago...

A May continuity and landslide would be a nightmare, Prevent on steroids, superficiality in general, oppression of the poor, sick and elderly. It is incredible to think that this person studied geography.

29.4.17

The community of farmers around Shanir Haor in Sunamganj desperately toiled for weeks moving earth with their own hands to fix a dam by themselves, often in the pouring rain, to protect their crops from early inundation and ruination. What timely assistance they had from the Water Board or Engineering Colleges speaks volumed about the configuration of science, technology, society and economy in our part of the world.

Given all the environmental changes and human forces at play, we really need to observe, think, communicate and invest better. Sunamganj District, where about 2.5 milllion people live, is getting better connected to itself and the rest of the country these days. It isn't exactly an agricultural breadbasket, but plays an important role in the stone industry, which feeds into construction and is full of beautiful wetlands, songs and spirituality.

The farmers of Shanir Haor were unsucessful in stopping the water and as the water came in those with the physical power salvaged what they could of their unripened paddy. Its sad because in this part of desh, you only really get one crop. National electronic media picked this up in the videos below.

At the same time, the financial cycle in Bangladesh, with the Budget announced in the first week of June, is out of sync with the monsoon generally. While the mega narratives of corruption and climate change are no doubt present in this disaster, we can see other vital matters, of the time structure of financial planning, the distribution of power and technological creativity between the water board, contractors, farmers and surrounding society at play.